I work with a set of grantmakers who are passionately invested in funding a group of people and related policy and practice issues that are very much under siege at the moment. I could tell you which population, but really it could be one of many right now.

It’s been beautiful to see how some foundations are stepping up to simpler, more rapid grantmaking in response to urgent needs.

Example number one. A few weeks ago, a nonprofit responded to a community crisis. Its staff leader called four funders. Three asked for a brief proposal. The fourth invited the group to speak at a briefing for foundations, adding a short session onto the already planned agenda. In the meantime, the nonprofit began working with two partners. On the day of the briefing (21 days after the original request), one of the funders made the first grant in response.

In the briefing, leaders from two of the three partner organizations explained what they were doing, why, and what it would cost to continue. They were asked to provide a more complete proposal, to cover funding for all three organizations. One funder at the briefing had taken detailed notes of the presentation, and sent those to the grantwriting organization, which then cut and pasted information into the original proposal (it is not elegant) and drafted an undetailed joint budget of about a quarter of a million dollars.

Giving Compass' Take:
· In India, private schools are only about 7 to 10 percent of institutions but serve 40 percent of students. Although private schools are typically known for providing a great education, WISE discusses the challenges these schools face and how more funding shows promising results.
· Money is known to be a great motivator. How do financial incentives improve the education provided by schools? How do they improve the outcome of students.
· Learn about the plans for the International Finance Facility for Education.
The growing affordable private schools market in India represents a paradoxical mixture of opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, affordable private schools are supported by a growing network of service providers, who see an opportunity to participate in the fast-growing education market in India and want to play a role in improving educational quality. We have also seen strong growth in the market. According to Gray Matters Capital, there are at least 300,000 affordable private schools in India with a major concentration in cities. While 7-10% of all schools are privately run, they serve approximately 40% of the student population in India.
On the other hand, even with growing access to resources and expanding market share, learning outcomes continue to stagnate. Data shows that on average, 75 % of the students enrolled in affordable private schools perform below their grade level, based on their performance in standardized assessments. This number has remained largely unchanged in the last five years. Thus, market growth in the affordable private schools’ segment has not been complemented by a corresponding improvement in student learning outcomes, and a large number of children from poor urban families continue to lack viable opportunities for a meaningful education.
Given the growing influence of affordable private schools, it is critical that we find ways to engage with them and construct program pathways that can improve learning outcomes. In 2015, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation created a variable-rate loan to Indian School Finance Company (ISFC) in 2015 to try to improve learning outcomes in affordable private schools. The loan enabled ISFC to enrol 98 schools into a program that guaranteed 5-10% loan principal rewards to schools that demonstrated measurable improvement in student learning outcomes.
Read the full article about financial incentive in eduction by Rahil Rangwala at WISE Initiative.

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